The History of the Reformation of the Church of England by Gilbert Burnet. In Six Volumes. Printed at the Oxford University Press in 1829.
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In the mid-1670s, a French translation of Nicholas Sanders' De origine et progressu schismatis Anglicani libri tres (1585) appeared. Sanders attacked the English Reformation as a political act carried on by a corrupt king. Several of Burnet's friends wished him to publish a rebuttal of the work, so in 1679 his first volume of The History of the Reformation of the Church of England was published. This covered the reign of Henry VIII; the second volume covered the reign of Elizabeth and the Elizabethan Religious Settlement; the third volume consisted of corrections and additional material. Here we have the original three bound into six.
Burnet's literary reputation was greatly enhanced by this publication - the British parliament voted thanks for Burnet after the publication of the first volume, and in 1680 the University of Oxford awarded Burnet the degree of Doctor of Divinity on the advice of William Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury. For over a century this was the standard reference work in the field, although Catholics disputed some of its content.
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Size: 146 x 223 mm (approx., each)
Condition:
[xxxiii, 740pp]; [558pp]; [xlv, 843pp]; [590pp]; [lxiv, 637pp, (1)]; [564pp, 294pp]
Uniform full calf bindings with tooled black morocco labels, one lacking to first volume else all present. Spines with some discolouration and rubbing with minor loss at extremities, most notably at the head of the third volume. Joints rubbed but with all boards securely attached. Without shelf lean. Boards with dark spots. Marbled page edges a little faded but generally remain very good. Collated as complete through each volume, including the very substantial 294pp index to the rear of the sixth volume. Bookplate to front pastedown of each volume of Edward Henry Scott. Endpapers foxed as typical else generally clean through the text blocks of each volume.
